


are you there, director? it's me, tenma

by quadruple



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21997678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quadruple/pseuds/quadruple
Summary: Tenma is not fond of watching horror movies, but at least he's not watching them alone.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	are you there, director? it's me, tenma

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kurikku](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurikku/gifts).



The night has arrived, everyone has finished training and dinner has passed not so long ago. The clock nearly strikes at 10 but there's only one person who hasn't left the living room while everyone else has gone to their rooms.

Izumi finds a quiet Tenma sitting in front of the television with a stack of DVDs right next to him. He has been sitting there for at least an hour—she did notice when Omi tried to persuade him to go to bed early, or when Yuki asked why he wasn't even already at his bed before him; Tenma responded to them that he needed to do something for his work.

But all of them happened around an hour ago, yet he’s still there as if he hasn’t really done anything.

Tenma currently wraps his arms around his legs and dips his head down, murmuring to himself of getting over something for the sake of his job, to which Izumi accidentally overhears. Concerned, she decides to approach him and taps him from the back.

"Tenma-kun, are you okay…?"

"UWAH!"

He flinches when she touches him. "Director, you surprised me! What are you doing here?"

"That should be my question, though," she says with a chuckle. "I just want to make sure everyone has gone to bed. Why haven't you?"

Tenma becomes silent for a while, his eyes are laid upon the DVD stack. "W-well… I got stuff to do for my upcoming role in a horror reboot. One of them is that I have to watch a trilogy set of the original movies because I'm going to play the lead."

Izumi sits next to him and takes a look at the movies. She immediately recognizes the title - the franchise's premise revolves around possession and paranormal activities centered around a two-story house in the suburbs. The protagonist is a high school student whose family moves away to the house due to his father’s job relocation. From there, the family begins to have unsettling experiences, so far as the physical body of the protagonist’s sister is inhabited by a demon that brings disruption and terror to everyone. It was quite popular when she was a primary school student, even though the sequels weren’t so much as renowned as the very first installment.

"Ah, I have heard of this…" Izumi remarks as she quickly scans the synopsis on the back cover. "I have never watched it, though. I'm not really a fan of horror movies - oh, wait." 

In the middle of scrutinizing, she finds a familiar name among the supporting cast. "Apparently your dad starred here too, huh?”

"Just the first and the last movies. If I’m not mistaken, he plays a police officer there."

In one of the screencaps at the back cover, she notices that there are two police officers going through a dark hallway with beaming flashlights in their hands. The older one has a shorter stature and a gruff expression, accompanied with a taller, more muscular who looks a little more horrified. There’s no mistake that it’s Tenma’s father—his facade is akin to when Tenma arrived at the dorms to discover room 203 for the first time.

Izumi smiles to herself at the memory. “An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh. His expression reminds me so much of you whenever you get scared.”

“Q-quit it!”

He flushes in embarrassment, ears turning almost as red as his cheeks. Izumi laughs but it quickly fades away from her face. “Anyways, what was your dad’s thoughts about you playing the lead for the upcoming reboot?”

“Well, he said that I should do my best, per usual,” Tenma utters. “I mean, what do you expect? My dad appeared at the original installments, and people obviously have expectations over my performance. Also, this is not the first time I played in a horror movie as well—”

“—because you already had an experience in that when you were a little kid?”

“Yeah.”

But then comes out a sigh of exasperation, a hint of disbelief. “You know, Director, I want to broaden my experience as an actor. I mean, this shouldn’t be a problem, right? I know for sure that this is all just make-believe, and yet…”

He looks over to her before averts his gaze away. Izumi figures what is going on.

She pats his head and back gently, attempting to alleviate his inner fear. He moves closer to her, slowly reaching out but seems hesitant. She knows what he’s trying to do, so she takes his hand and puts it over her shoulder. He nearly recedes away from her in surprise, but he attempts to remain calm even though he can’t stop his heart from beating so fast.

“It’s okay, Tenma-kun,” she placates him. “It’s fine to be scared. I mean, I get scared watching these movies too. But, I think, as long as we have each other by our side, we can get through things, right? Including a bunch of horror movies, which are merely make-believes, like you said. Right?”

“... Right.”

Tenma would be lying if he said he didn’t like the way she makes him feel comfortable.

He enjoys that brief moment between them—the way she touches his hair, how she comes up with things to make him feel better, and the fact that she accepts his unbecoming when facing a hindrance. She doesn’t judge and belittle him for that, and she always supports him all the way through, just like how she does it with other members.

Tenma is somehow glad that his trivial fear can be a way for him to be closer to her.

“Alright, I guess, we shall proceed with the first film?”

He nods. “Please take care of me, Director.”

“Okay, then!”

Izumi rises from the floor and heads towards upstairs. “I’m gonna get a blanket from my room, do you want anything?”

“I’m good!”

As he waits for Izumi to arrive again, he looks at the front cover again.

 _It’s just for the sake of research_ , he tells himself. _It’s not like it would actually happen. There is not even a case like this that is common in Japan; this is a mere adaptation from American paranormal movies. Maybe I can pay attention to my dad’s appearance so that I can learn the relationship between the characters and his performance_ —

“ **BASED ON A TRUE STORY** ”

_—oh, fuck me._

“Tenma-kun, you haven’t played the DVD yet, right?”

“Uh, n-no!”

After Izumi approaches him with the blanket, she quickly grabs the DVD from his hand and immediately puts it inside the player. She presses the button on the remote to turn it on before hitting the “play” button on the player. It all goes by in an instant as the television displays the movie's title screen.

He can feel his hands quiver and he’s ready to cower at any moment, but he’s not going back now. He can get through the next two hours of hell, and he would probably get over it once he's falling asleep.

(... or maybe not.)

.

Within the next morning, Izumi and Tenma are laid next to each other on the couch with the blanket covering them.

He holds her close as his head is buried on her neck. Meanwhile, her arms are around his shoulders and her fingers are intertwining between each other. The DVDs are found near the end of their feet.

All of the sudden, Tenma is awake when his right foot is hauled as his body is dragged away from the couch.

"NO, NO, DON'T TAKE ME AWAY PLEASE, HELP ME!"

"The Director is mine, you're not allowed to touch her."

Turns out it's Masumi, who is indignant to find the sight appear before him when he goes to the living room. He proceeds to drag Tenma away as far as he can from Izumi before he slams his foot to the ground and hurries over to Izumi to wake her up.

"Oh, wow, Tenten is having a cozy sleepover with Director-chan, huh?"

"So that's why you don't want to sleep in our bedroom last night. You're planning to get closer to the Director, huh?"

"Tenma-kun had a movie late night-in date with Director… I wonder if I could do that too…"

The remarks of other Summer Troupe members are heard, slowly bringing to his consciousness (and annoyance as well as embarrassment). He immediately gets up on his feet and tidies himself up.

"It's not like that!" he counters. "I just want her to accompany me watching movies for my upcoming role!"

"Okay, sure, Jan," Yuki rolls his eyes, to which Tenma scowls in response, "I am telling the truth! Just ask her!"

Kazunari suddenly clings his arm around Tenma as he says, "Hey, Tenten, why don't you have us to accompany you watching movies next time? How about that?"

"Why?!"

Misumi suddenly appears as he jumps from the stairs, exclaiming, "I want to watch movies with Tenma too! I want to watch triangle movies!"

"There is no triangle movies!"

"Huh, what is this movie watching all about?" Kumon chimes in excitedly, as he subsequently follows Misumi from behind. "Tenma-san, I'd like to join in! It would be fun!"

"Just shut it, guys!"

In the meantime, Izumi, who secretly listens to the rambunctiousness and everything else while pretending to sleep, is relieved. At least, Tenma won't be facing his fears on his own in the future.

... or maybe at least for the next two installments.

.

**Omake**

"Director, your smile is so beautiful when you sleep. Let me lay next to y _—"_

"Get away from her."

"Get your hands off of me, you old man."

"Don't make me fight you over here, kid."

**Author's Note:**

> So this piece is for the A3! Secret Santa event in 2019, I haven't written anything in so long. I hope this is alright. I might need to lay down.


End file.
